REFORMING

not just managing

Inside the Treasurer’s Office

Ken Simpler was elected Delaware State Treasurer on November 4, 2014, and took the oath of office on January 6, 2015. During his first term as State Treasurer, Ken has applied lessons from his 20-year career as a finance professional to fix some of the core fiscal operations both inside the Treasurer’s Office and across state government.

Day-to-day operations of the State Treasurer’s Office occupy the majority of Ken’s time. He is responsible for managing the State’s cash and debt, arranging banking services and processing financial transactions for state agencies, and overseeing investment plans for individuals saving for retirement, planning for college and managing disability expenses.

In his first term, Ken and his team have re-architected the State’s $2 billion investment portfolio and overhauled the state employees’ $1 billion voluntary savings plan. These multi-year efforts have improved investment performance and lowered costs for financial platforms that had not been meaningfully restructured in 20-35 years.

In a second term, Ken will apply the same top-to-bottom review conducted with respect to the investment and retirement platforms to the state’s banking architecture and debt portfolio. Both of these undertakings require a multi-year, holistic approach to reform.

In the first case, the arrangement of financial services for the State’s $10 billion in annual spending is fragmented and decentralized, resulting in inefficiencies through both gaps and redundancies and unnecessary exposure to cyber-security threats. A review begun in 2017 with an inter-agency banking task force has produced an actionable set of recommendations adopted in the Governor’s first ever report on Government Efficiency and Accountability (GEAR). The work begins now to make the report’s findings reality.

In the latter instance, while the State has maintained a AAA rating on its debt issuances, new regulations focused on off-balance sheet liabilities as well as an all-time high in per capita borrowing suggest that more can be done to institutionalize the state’s debt policy and examine long-term debt feasibility. As one of only four Bond Issuing Officers, Ken hopes to lead improvements in Delaware’s capital budgeting and borrowing processes.

The State of Delaware earned an award as Finalist in Plan Sponsor’s annual Sponsor of the Year competition in the Public DC category.

Operating Divisions and Business Units of the State Treasurer's Office